Maid for the Billionaire(18)

Despite the fact that they were both fully dressed and separated by a few inches, he had never felt closer to a woman. That this feeling of intimacy could come before sex scared him.

She was supposed to be a distraction; enjoyable but brief. She wasn‘t supposed to make him wonder how he was going to return to his normal life without her and if returning there was what he really wanted to do at all.

In the shade of trees, he studied her content profile. Her makeup had begun to smudge. The hard work of her stylist was losing ground to her hair‘s natural curl. She sensed his scrutiny and peered back at him from beneath her naturally long eyelashes. He‘d never seen anyone more beautiful, but wasn‘t the type of man to spout flowery words. He settled for laying his hand lightly over hers on the bench.

Their peace was broken by a wave of visitors who passed through the forest at a breakneck speed; obviously thinking like he had that this was the least impressive part of the zoo. After the intrusion, Dominic was uncomfortable just sitting there and mooning over Abby like a boy stricken with his first crush.

He said, ―I don't see any deer. What are we doing here?‖

"Waiting," she said. ―The deer will come.‖

―Shouldn't you call them or something?‖ Dominic asked.

Her warm brown eyes crinkled with amusement as she smiled up at him. ―They won't come if I call. That's what is amazing about this place. You can't force a deer to come to you. You can chase it, corner it, make all the threats you'd like, but a deer won't come until it wants to.‖

And then it dawned on him. ―If this is your attempt at an analogy between my sister and these timid creatures, you obviously missed her claws.‖

Abby opened the bag of kernels and threw some on the ground around them. ―I'm a good judge of people. Your sister was scared.‖

He scoffed at that. ―Pissed is more like it. Don't think you know her from one brief meeting.

She's not a little deer who is going to come running just because I toss some corn down.‖

―Why did you come back to Boston?‖

Her question threw him. He'd come back because Thomas had implied that his sister's welfare depended on his presence at the reading. He'd thought that perhaps this time she'd see reason and finally take his offer of money; therefore escaping whatever web of control his father had spun.

Abby continued her cross examination. ―You said you don't care about the money, so you came back for your sister.‖

This woman saw too much.

―A lot of good that did,‖ he ground out. ―Do these deer throw the corn right back in your face as my darling sister tosses any of my offers of assistance?‖

Abby didn‘t seem put off by his anger. ―Maybe you've never made her the right offer.‖

Ha, if only that were true. ―I‘ve repeatedly offered to help her financially. You heard her.

She doesn't want anything from me.‖

―All I heard her say is that she didn't want your money.‖

―And that I'm a lousy brother.‖ Dominic added with self-disgust.

―No, that may be what you heard, but that's not what she was saying.‖ Abby‘s confidence was grating.

―And after meeting her once, you know her so well?‖

―After a lifetime of being her brother, do you know her at all?‖ she challenged. ―I‘m not saying I have all the answers, but my sister and I had a similarly strained relationship for years.‖

Dominic remembered what he‘d read in Abby‘s profile. She‘d practically raised her sister.

Their situations were nothing alike. ―You and your sister still live together. You seem to be close. It‘s not the same at all. I haven‘t had a real conversation with my sister in years.‖

Abby turned her hand under his to give him a supportive squeeze. ―Neither had I, until last night. Sure, we lived together, but that just made it worse. I got to see up close and everyday how distant we had become.‖

―And all of that changed last night?‖ He raised a doubting eyebrow.

Abby‘s expression grew wistful. ―We reconnected. I‘m not saying it‘s perfect, but it‘s better now – so much better. You and your sister could find that, too. Nicole just needs time and maybe a softening in your approach.‖

A small doe came out of the tree line, leading a tentative group of about six other deer.

They watched Abby and Dominic carefully as they nibbled on the furthest and safest kernels.

One large buck stepped out of the group and approached the seated pair. Abby reached into her bag and filled her palm with his reward. The others became bolder and soon the small bench was surrounded by hungry deer.

Abby poured some of the kernels into Dominic's hand. He reached forward and was surprised by how softly the fragile animals took the treat. He was further surprised by the feeling of triumph he felt that they trusted him enough to bring their young ones closer to the bench.

Abby looked on with a real expression of pleasure.

He announced, ―This changes nothing. You heard my sister. She doesn‘t want anything from me.‖

Abby simply gave him more corn and said, ―Who are you trying to convince, me or you?‖

The ring of Dominic's cell phone scattered a few of the deer. It rang again, but he didn't reach for it.

Abby turned to him as the rings grew louder, ―Aren't you going to answer it?‖

I should. Jake wouldn't call him again so soon if it weren't an emergency. Dominic dug the phone out of his front pocket and flipped it open. ―Corisi,‖ he said with all the impatience he felt.